Pittsburgh Penguins at Detroit Red Wings, Game 5 (series tied 2-2)
The Pittsburgh Penguins did what they had to do – win both games at home – and now the Stanley Cup Finals is a best-of-three as the series heads back to Detroit for Saturday’s Game 5.
Detroit is a -155 money line WagerWeb.com favorite for Game 5.
The Penguins scored three goals in less than 6 minutes of the second period Thursday night to win 4-2 and tie the series. And the Pens have probably outplayed Detroit in all but one game this series (Game 3). However, Detroit is 10-1 at home in these playoffs.
Each of Pittsburgh’s top three centers, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal, had a goal in Game 4. It was Crosby’s first goal of this series, although he leads all players in the playoffs with 15 goals.
Malkin, who scored the first goal of the game on a power play, continues to lead the NHL playoff scoring race with 35 points, seven of which are in the finals. Staal netted his third goal of the playoffs and first in eight games.
“They’re three really powerful and strong centermen,” the Pens’ Max Talbot said. “They’re big. They win battles, and they’re three leaders out there. You look at them on the bench, it’s line after line after line.”
Crosby and Malkin both recorded their 12th multi-point game this postseason, two shy of the NHL record of 14 held by Mario Lemieux (1991) and Wayne Gretzky (1988). The Penguins have scored three or more goals in 17 of 21 games this postseason.
Staal’s goal definitely changed Game 4. The Wings led 2-1 in the second period and were on their second straight power play before Staal beat Chris Osgood for a short-handed goal.
“They’re about to break our back with a power-play goal to make it 3-1, and [Staal] makes a huge play and beats a couple of good defensemen and tucks her in and gave us life,” Pens GM Ray Shero said.
“When they got the second goal, they gained a lot of energy,” Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom said.
“We didn’t really respond to that.”
The Pens are now 4-0 in Game 4s this postseason. Teams have trailed 2-0 in a best-of-seven series a total of 291 times in the Stanley Cup playoffs and have come back to win the series 37 times, or 12.7 percent.
It has happened just three times in the Finals.
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